Martin's review
Housekeeping vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby
This book and its predecessor, Polysyllabic Spree, seem to be made for posters on this site. These collections of Hornby's columns for the magazine The Believer are his musings on what he has read this month. Supposedly -and Hornby makes it clear he's not necessarily to be trusted on this or any other topic- the magazine stands by one commandment: "THOU SHALT NOT SLAG ANYONE OFF." This means you're getting a fan's notes more than a critic's analysis.
This seems just the forum for the author of High Fidelity with its Top 10 lists and Songbook with its essays on some of his favorite pop recordings (get the McSweeny's hardback; it comes with a CD of some of the selections). Hornby strings a bit of through-narrative by describing the overlords of the Believer in their choir robes and chiding ways. In this volume two of his columns he also takes frequent light-hearted pokes at his friend Sarah Vowell who he refers to as Violet Incredible.
What makes it seems so appropriate...more
This seems just the forum for the author of High Fidelity with its Top 10 lists and Songbook with its essays on some of his favorite pop recordings (get the McSweeny's hardback; it comes with a CD of some of the selections). Hornby strings a bit of through-narrative by describing the overlords of the Believer in their choir robes and chiding ways. In this volume two of his columns he also takes frequent light-hearted pokes at his friend Sarah Vowell who he refers to as Violet Incredible.
What makes it seems so appropriate...more
